Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(109)

I laughed with him. I laughed and laughed until tears streamed down my eyes and continued laughing long after he’d sobered.

“What? Are you fucking psycho too now?” he taunted.

My smile dropped off fast. “Psycho? No. Not at all, Andy. I’m laughing because you think you have control here like you thought you did the night you tied me up and made me watch you assault my best friend.”

“Tonya liked it,” he ground out, wiping at his lip that was bleeding. “She’d kissed me before.”

“I don’t really care what you did with anyone years ago, Andy. It doesn’t change the fact that neither of us wanted you that night. The power you thought you held as I sat there scared … with all that power, I was still able to get away.” I got up and walked up to him where he squirmed like a fish out of water. “I still had you begging for your life that night.”

“Shut up. You couldn’t even finish the fucking job. You got that gun off the nightstand and couldn’t pull the trigger because you still love me. You know you do. I should have you get on your knees for me now—”

I knew Declan wasn’t going to allow his words. The man I loved grabbed him by his neck and choked him as he growled, “Careful. She gets this because she deserves it, but I’ll beat you to death. I don’t give a fuck.”

“Stop,” I said quietly, and Declan backed away, giving me the space I wanted with the man I never thought I would want it with again. “You know, I always tell myself I can move on from my past. I even told Declan to leave our past in the past, but I carry it with me. I carry the pain and the regret and the memory of losing my friend because of you with me every day. I carry the past assault with me every fucking second. I worry and stress and try to plan every single instance of my day so that I don’t misstep. I do…not you. I do. The survivor. Not the assaulter.”

“You liked it,” he tried to counter.

I scoffed at the lies, glancing at Declan who nodded at me to keep going. “I might have been homeschooled and quiet and looking for love because I didn’t get it from my father’s family, but I wasn’t stupid, Andy. You hurt me. You fucking ruined me. And I won’t ever be the same.” I took a shaky breath and found Declan’s gaze. “I won’t be the same but I’ll be better. I’ll carry my past with me and I’ll build a better future because of it. Stronger, smarter, and full of love from a man that deserves me.”

“Well, I love you. I know you love me too,” Andy said, and his words made my stomach roll. He tried to stand but crumbled to the ground again and wheezed. “I think something’s wrong with my chest.”

Declan laughed, “No one cares what the fuck is wrong with your chest. Apologize to my wife for the hell you put her through now.”

Andy must have realized then that his life was on the line. He started crying, whining, pleading, and apologizing to me over and over.

Declan was beyond forgiveness though. He came to stand beside me and leaned close, “Do you want to take his life or can I?”

“We can’t kill him, Declan.” I took a deep breath. “He’s probably going to sue us as it is. We shouldn’t get our hands dirty when you’re that all-American dream of the nation.”

Declan smiled at me. “I like my hands dirty, babe.” Then he kissed my cheek and commanded, “Go back inside.”

I chuckled at my husband, and then I kissed him hard and fast before saying, “No killing. We just need to get him out of here.”

“I’ll take care of it,” he murmured. “Give me a second alone with him, huh?”

“Promise to not do anything you can’t come back from?” I lifted a brow.

“You bet.”

I turned to go inside as I listened to my husband telling Andy, “No one will remember you. No one will care from this moment forward. I’m going to make sure of it. Your family’s businesses are going under. I’ll manage how the media will paint you in the magazines as a rapist and that’s it. A woman’s worth was always more than yours, and you got away with thinking the opposite for far too long.”

I didn’t look back. I went to make bracelets and sit in silence in the living room.

A bit later, I heard Declan come inside but he was on the phone and it was on speaker.

“Cade, I need a favor.”

“I’d say no, but I saw who entered your gym, so I’m guessing this’ll be good.”

“You saw him come into my gym and didn’t fucking call me?” Declan said furiously.

“I glanced at your location before I bothered with a call and your ass was going a hundred on the highway to your place. Figured you had it under control.”

“Whatever. He’s here.”

“Don’t tell me he’s dead. I’m too tired to handle it today,” Cade said, bored like he didn’t give a shit about my life or anyone else’s.

“He’s unconscious but still breathing in my backyard. There’s a lot of blood.” I heard a muffled rustling as I walked up to Declan to wrap my arm around his waist and lean into him.

Then I heard Cade mumble to Izzy, “Your brother lost his mind like you did years ago, and now I have to go clean up his damn mess.” He didn’t say anything else to us. He clicked off the phone.